This invention relates to improvements in water supply systems which render them not only economical to operate during peak demand periods but more efficient and satisfactory in use, automatically adaptable to changing levels of demand and unlikely to malfunction. It enables optimal service while minimalizing the investment in capital equipment.
Embodiments feature a dual standpipe storage structure so related to both the supply main and the source which feeds the water supply system as to enable an essentially complete utilization of its total capacity. The use of the invention insures each consumer an adequate supply of water under adequate pressure at all times.
From the standpoint of economy a conventional installation for pumping water from a primary source to a given community will not be designed to meet peak load conditions at all times. The equipment required to this end is much too costly and it is highly undesirable to have and to be required to maintain equipment which has only limited periods of function. Apart from this, it is often impossible to foresee an unexpected population explosion in a community.
It is for reasons such as the foregoing that conventional installations usually include a standby storage tank containing water which can be fed into the main or mains of the related water supply system as the pressure in this system inherently drops during peak demand periods. While such arrangements will serve a useful purpose, it is often found they far from satisfy needs during peak periods. When the problem in this respect becomes particularly severe, there is no alternative but to expand the basic water supply system, such as by adding another well as an additional source of supply, together with the highly expensive pumping and filtering equipment required to utilize the water made available by said well.
Apart from the foregoing problems, previous standby water storage arrangements serving to supplement water supply systems have been plagued by constructions which lend themselves to poor turnover of the water being stored as well as to icing problems during wintertime operations. Icing is particularly destructive of related control and sensing equipment. These problems lead to a requirement for substantial and costly maintenance.
One further problem in connection with the use of standby water storage tanks as heretofore constructed and embodied in connection with water supply systems stems from the fact that the original filling thereof is normally a very slow and tedious procedure. The arrangement is usually such that a man has to stand at a gate valve in the line which extends from the source of supply to the tank and to constantly adjust the valve over a period of 24 to 36 hours while the tank is filled. During all this time he must watch a pressure gage and take immediate action as and when necessary to maintain line pressure in the related system.
In any event, the universal problem evidenced in prior art water supply systems is their inability to maintain at all times a supply of water for consumers which is adequate to meet their needs during peak demand periods and which is furnished under an adequate level of pressure.
It is to the solution of the aforementioned as well as other problems that the present invention is directed.